Minutemen put a big foot down

The Springfield girls basketball team looked nothing like a No. 15 seed when they made a 12-5 run at the beginning of the second half to cut No. 2 Mill River’s lead to seven, 29-22.

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Published February 24, 2016 in the Rutland Herald Minutemen put a big foot down BY TOM HALEY STAFF WRITER NORTH CLARENDON — The Springfield girls basketball team looked nothing like a No. 15 seed when they made a 12-5 run at the beginning of the second half to cut No. 2 Mill River’s lead to seven, 29-22. But from that point on Mill River looked every bit the Division II state champions that they are, running away to a 52-31 victory. It was the 3-point shooting of Jessica Audy that began the separation for the Minutemen. She connected on two 3-point field goals at the beginning of the fourth quarter that ballooned the lead to 41-22. Last year the Minutemen won the state crown with Ella Bankert expertly directing the show as the point guard. Bankert left to prep at Kimball Union Academy and filling that important spot would be a key to the Minutemen’s chances of making a run at another title. Enter Olivia McPhee who got very little playing time last season as a freshman. “She has taken it over,” Mill River coach Ken Webb said. “She has played with a lot of confidence from day one. She has stepped up and it has really elevated us, especially on defense.” Another part of the game that has improved as the season progressed for the Minutemen is their play down low. It’s been Rylee Squared in the post — Rylee Nichols and Rylee Perron. “The last couple of weeks Rylee Nichols and Rylee Perron’s post play has really stepped up,” Webb said. Nichols was very productive as she led the Minutemen in scoring with 19. She scored their first nine points as Mill River shot out to a 12-2 advantage. The Minutemen looked to be in great shape when they went to halftime sitting atop a 24-10 lead. But here is where the Cosmos made their run. When Lizzie Mackenzie netted her second 3-pointer of the third quarter it pared the margin to 29-20 and she followed that up by sinking two free throws and Mill River was clinging to a seven-point lead. But that was the end of Springfield’s run. The Minutemen cushioned the lead to 35-22 by the end of the third quarter and then Audy ignited a spurt that allowed them to run away and hide. Following Nichols in scoring for the 17-4 Minutemen were Audy with 11, Tessa Davenport with nine and Perron with five. McKenzie drilled three 3-pointers on the way to 13 points to lead the 5-16 Cosmos. Brooke Willey had some nice assists and added eight points. “We have had some extremely bright moments this season,” Springfield coach Joe Costello said. “This team has inspired a lot of confidence. Our problem has been inconsistency. We can’t play for 32 minutes but this team has shown flashes all 21 games.” “I think we just wore them down,” Webb said. That was Costello’s sentiment exactly. “This team over here is a machine. They wear you down,” the Cosmo coach said. Costello said his team has played hard all season and Webb saw that on this evening. “Springfield did a nice job. They never gave up,” Webb said. The Cosmos certainly could have been deflated early. Haley Hull slid a bounce pass to McPhee for the layup and then Davenport swished a free throw to push the lead to 12-2 late in the opening quarter. But there was no deflating the visitors and they even gave the home crowd some anxious moments when they put together that run that whittled the lead to seven. But as Costello said, the year has been about flashes, not consistency. That is a commodity he will try to develop in the program. Mill River is about defending a title and the Minutemen will try to take the next step to that objective on Thursday when the Lamoille Lancers come to town for the quarterfinal game. http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20160224/SPORTS02/160229738